In the modern world, with the help of social media, cell phones as well as internet, society is now more connected to the social world then it has ever been. Even though this may be a good thing, but at the same time people are also even more secluded and obscure,
Sherry Turkle once said,
This is the experience of living full time on the Net, newly free in some ways, newly yoked in others. We are all cyborgs now.”
Encouraging and affectionate are the basic requirement of a good relationship and are also good for the prosperity of mankind.
Social media thus tends to create isolation in the following ways;
Diverting people from reality:
It is due to the distractions that are caused by social media that nowadays we don’t have any idea about what is instantly going on in our surroundings thus allowing people to immediately take “refuge” in a virtual world. If things tend to become embarrassing in reality, we run towards social media as a result. Social media seems to have become our salvation and our saviour in this way.
To illustrate this point further let us take an example, as soon as an awkward moment arrives in any part of our daily life we tend to distract ourselves by checking our cell phones and other social media devices in order to make us forget about our weird moments in life. Thus, social media does divert us from reality and bring out the charm of the virtual world.
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Faking Friendships:
It is a means of replacing “real people” with “virtual people”. It provides an illusion to people, deceiving them by reassurance that the virtual friends they have are all they need. According to psychologists, the more time an individual decides to spend on Social media such as Facebook, Instagram etc. the more isolated he tends to become.
Another study showed that, making friends on social media made a person more excited and increased the extent of his happiness. But, if he passively interacts with people i.e. meeting them in reality he becomes more lonely and upset as he cannot take the pressure of being judges by society.
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Badly affecting self-esteem:
People present in a society like to share their favourite things online, like pictures of themselves, the ones they love, the places their visiting, the food they’re eating etc. This is truly a bizarre and messed up way of self-satisfaction thus creating more envy among people.
It tends to create an inferiority complex in people as well, making them believe that other people are living plentiful and very happy lives meanwhile they themselves are the only ones miserable. Thus forcing people to make up lies about themselves so that they don’t fall behind this ever so demanding society.
Deception of Social link:
Even though social media does allow us to stay connected to our loved ones, it also creates fake friendships as well.
For example, you can become with friends with whomsoever you like regardless of ever having met the person. So it is not entirely safe, but still people tend to discuss their private matters with strangers online more often which can be quite insecure.
Mental frustration:
The society as we know it is not quite a happy place. There are many disappointments one must face in order to succeed. It creates mental exhaustion and people become more tired. Society has great demands from them and if they fail to meet their demands they are labelled as “failures of society” this results in people feeling more dejected as society basically rejects them over and over again.
In these moments, one tries his best to hide, to stay away from society and its cruelty. They are ostracized by society. Thus in order to get rid of this mental frustration, to have some peace and quiet one turns towards social media. He figures that if society refuses to accept him so badly why not turn to a place where he is accepted. A place where there are no failures. A place where everyone is a winner, where he is wanted, a place where nobody can criticize him. It is a lie in the form of mirage, making him believe that it is actually salvation. He dives in deeper and deeper, and the day comes when he realizes that he does not need reality. He does not need people who will not accept him. If he stays in his shell then he will stay happy not realizing that he cannot survive if he is isolated.
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Thus society truly does tend to create isolation no matter what virtue it brings. This needs to be taken care of on a global scale as Jules Verne says,
“Solitude, isolation are painful things and beyond human endurance”.